Crytek created an everlasting impact on the minds
of first-person shooters with Farcry. Though Farcry was a game with
immense graphics and environment effects, it cannot match up to the game
which is yet to be released in the quarter half of 2007. This game is
also developed by Crytek only and is published by Electronic Arts. Yes,
we are talking about the game Crysis which with its release will bring
with itself a new horizon that will change the future of gaming. With
the most advanced engine CryENGINE 2 and the first game that is based on
Microsoft Direct X 10, Crysis is going to come out as a game with the
most advanced graphics, lighting effects, environment effects and so on.
Some of the technology it will utilize include dynamic day/night cycle,
fully interactive environments, sunrays and diffuse transmission, real
time soft shadows, soft particles, interactive/destructible
environments, volumetric clouds, and advanced shader technology.

The story of the game goes like this. Cyris is set
in the year 2019 when a giant asteroid from the atmosphere hits an
island (in Spratly Island chain) in the South China Sea. As soon as the
news of the unidentified flying object reached the North Korean
Government they rush their troops to the island to find out about the
object. After blockading the island they soon discover a large
mysterious asteroid. After some time the United States also sends in
their Delta Force squad to investigate what is going on in the island.
Here you take up the role of Jake Dunn who is a member of this squad.
When the Americans arrive on the island they are welcomed by attacks
from the North Korean Troops and this rivalry grows intense between the
two nations. While tempers flare and fighting continues between the
North Koreans and Americans, the asteroid opens up revealing a large
alien mother ship. The ship encloses itself inside a large sphere
causing a large part of the island to become frozen (including anyone
who was unlucky enough to get caught in its reach) and also causes
variances in the weather. Thus nearly more than half of the part of the
island is frozen thus making access into the deeper parts to reach the
ship more difficult.

Once the ship is revealed and the fighting between
the Americans and the North Koreans continues, there is the entry of the
villains, i.e. the Alien troops from the ship. This Alien enemy brings
with it some extremely high tech and dangerous weapons - to such an
extent that the North Koreans and Americans join forces. At this point,
we have to fight our way through a raft of different environments and
enemies to save the world. A feature which has been given to you as you
fight all your enemies is your armor suit packed with the latest
technologies. The best part about this tremendous suit is that energy
can be directed to different parts of the armor to give players
different options for their use. If the player wants to get to a place
very fast before time runs out, then the armor can be configured to send
energy to the legs to increase the speed so that you can reach the
desired place on time. Sometimes it is also possible to provide the
energy to give enough of strength to carry enough of those heavy loaded
weapons as well as armor for extra protection. This suite is also
designed in such a way that if your health level goes down then after
some time the suite gradually restores your health level.

The best part of this game is the details, the
visuals and the effects. Using the Direct X 10 based design this game is
sure to be a hit amongst others for its most advanced graphics. The
gameplay environment is almost amazing, thanks to the newly developed
cryENGINE 2. The reaction of the surrounding particles, for e.g. when we
pass through a bush the leaves react to our contact with them by bending
outwards or even falling off. Almost everything can be destroyed in this
game in which you can also shoot down branches of a tree over an enemy
to cause enough damage to him. The suns rays, the clouds, the sparkling
water look almost real and it is really amazing to see such work done by
the developers in creating such a game.The enemies
in the game have an excellent AI and I am sure like other games this
game won’t let you down in enemy interaction. An interesting enemy in
this game is a giant bug called the Hunter. The Hunter is one hell of a
beast. Lit up with all sorts of great glowing lights, outfitted with
tentacle arms that grab and chuck objects at its enemies, and a massive
beam weapon, it's an awesome spectacle. A few rockets right into the maw
of the giant alien machine is enough to take it down, but in the final
game the enemy AI should prove to be more adaptable. As the player
progresses through levels he is encountered by various helpful additions
to his weaponry. The player character, along with having very adaptable
armor, will have customizable weaponry and customizable bullets. This
means additions like vision, infrared, and microphone scopes along with
silencers for those trickier situations where being quiet is important.
Bullets on the other hand can be adapted to put an enemy to sleep or
even act as a sound beacon to attract enemies away from an area.

The game also has a multiplayer option which will
also be very good if the game is installed on PCs with the latest Direct
X 10 card, the NVIDIA GeForce 8800(even though the cost is heart
breaking).

So, in order to try out a game with the most
advanced game engine and which works on Direct X 10 based graphics card,
we will have to just wait till it releases.

By Clive D’Souza

Crysis - The Story

Earth. 2019. Crysis begins with a colossal smouldering
asteroid crashing violently into North Korean terra-firma. With the
Koreans claiming the mysterious space-sent entity as their own, the
American government speedily dispatches an elite team of Delta Force
Operators to recon behind Korean lines.Amid rising tension between
Crysis’ two core nations, the asteroid unceremoniously breaks open to
reveal an enormous alien spacecraft, made with superior technology and
malicious intent. The invasion of Earth is at hand.Faced with the
greatest threat the planet has ever known, the two rival nations join
forces and battle for the very survival of mankind.Crysis Players step
right into the thick of this struggle, taking on the mantle of
humanity’s last faint hope as they don their Nanosuits and scorch
through intrepid jungles, perilous frozen terrain and into the ultimate
zero-g encounter aboard the alien vessel to save the world… and end
this Crysis.